Greg Sargent: It isn’t just Richard Cordray. Obama is also set to use recess appointments to install his picks to the National Labor Relations Board, according to White House officials and others familiar with ongoing discussions.

The move, which is arguably as important as the Cordray appointment, will ratchet up opposition from Republicans and make this an even bigger fight, since they have been attacking the NLRB regularly for its moves to streamline union elections and inform workers of their rights.

…. Obama’s move, which will help energize unions in advance of the 2012 election, is yet another sign that he is determined to circumvent GOP opposition and make government functional again by any means necessary….

ThinkProgress: Republicans have shown outrage at Obama for using his recess appointment powers with Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director Richard Cordray, and similar outrage is likely to follow the news of the NLRB appointments. But the past three Republican presidents also made recess appointments to the NLRB. Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush each made three recess appointments to the NLRB, while George W. Bush made seven such appointments.

****

AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka: We commend the President for exercising his constitutional authority to ensure that crucially important agencies protecting workers and consumers are not shut down by Republican obstructionism. Working families and consumers should not pay the price for political ploys that have repeatedly undercut the enforcement of rules against Wall Street abuses and the rights of working people.

****

****

NYT: A defiant President Barack Obama, tired of Senate Republicans stalling his nominee to lead a new consumer protection agency, put him in charge Wednesday over their opposition.

“I refuse to take ‘no’ for an answer,” the president said.

… With a director in place, Obama said the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau can start overseeing the mortgage companies, payday lenders, debt collectors and other financial operations often blamed for practices that helped undermine the economy.

Obama announced the move with Cordray by his side before a cheering crowd in Ohio … “Every day that we waited was another day when millions of Americans are left unprotected,” Obama.

236 Responses to “afternoon all”

I think someone may have alluded to this earlier. But this has to be the worst case scenario for Romney. He wins by 8 votes, five less than what he got in 08. The second runner up is some nutjob who spent barely 100K in Iowa, versus Romneys’ 4 million plus campaign. He angers Newt, who refused to congratulate him on his win. He uses his ace in the hole endorsement of McCain (Cough, Cough) to step on the Santorum surge from yesterday—thus depriving him of any meaningful endorsements/news slobbering coverage in the next month or so. And this is just what has happened since the caucus yesterday.

Coming up, there are two debates (I believe) before NH primaries. South Carolina is still weeks away with some debates scheduled there. And say what you will, but Newt does well (for a Republican) in these forums. And will literally beat the hair gel out of Romney. Along with Santorum and Perry. Mittens only got 14% of very conservative voters, 14% of Evangelicals, and only 13% of those making 50K or less a year. These three groups pretty much sum up the Republican base south of NH. One of the counties that went for Mittens last cylce (Woodbury) flipped to Santorum this cycle.

So to sum it up, Mittens spent 4 million dollars to get five less votes than he got 4 years ago in Iowa even though he had the highest voter id recognition of all the candidates. Even if he were to win NH, he would have to win by at least 30 pts (as all the latest polling has him winning by this margin) to make it a story. And if he were to win, the media and the general population would be indifferent cause he’s lived there for the past five years.

Shit definitely got real. Chips alluded to the fact that Axelrod is now calling Romney the 25% man. He’s been campaigning for six or seven years and still only got 25% of the votes? That has to sting. He spent millions and still cmae in short of what he obtained in 2008? That has to sting. PBO’s unofficial caucus drew 25,000 Democratic caucus goers. 25,000! and he wasn’t even on the ballot. Romney only got 30,015 and squeaked into first place by a mere eight votes. If I were him, I’d be scared shitless at the political machine that is the Obama team. Romney didn’t pull in any new caucus voters; when it’s all broken down, Ron Paul was the only one who expanded the field and brought in new blood. Romney should be very worried about that lack of enthusiasm for him. Also when the votes were broken down, Romney mainly captured the 1% vote. Code for wealthy Iowans who were making over $100,000 or over $200,000 and were living very comfortably. He didn’t get as much support from the middle and working class because they see him as the 1% and know that he doesn’t represent their issues. Romney should defintely not be resting on his weak laurels because now he’s gonna get bloodied up by the others left in the field. Gingrich is going to go for his jugular in the NH debates this weekend before the NH primary next tuesday. Payback is a bitch and I for one am happy about that.

ME too UT. There is not someone more deserving of an epic face palm. He, and his wife, are soo smarmy, will say anything to get elected. Do you know this A hole said his wife pushed him to run again. WTF? HE never stopped running. Enough of this hiding behind your wife BS.

A small part of me actually wants to see this imbecile nominated quickly, so that he can go into the gen elect THINKING he can compete with Chicago. And then get his balls handed to him in a brown paper bag dripping with hot grease.

I don’t advocate violence (usually) but never bring a knife to a gun fight—cuz you might just get Bin Ladened.

What I think the GOP does not realize is that by letting their start players sit on the bench and wait until 2016 to run, the world will not be the same, we will have moved on from their scare tactics and hypocrisy. We will have eight years to see how a sincere leader with integrity and courage conducts himself and that will take us someplace other than the country Rove, Murdock, Ailes and their like molded.

You know, cuphalfful, I don’t think they really have a “starting” team. Another Bush? The disgustingly thuggish Christie? The pasty-faced Ryan? The charisma-challenged Daniels? Who are these Republican giants who will sweep the state in 2016. I can think of at least six strong Democrats who would wipe the floor with them.

Hi donna dem 4 obama and Sabreen60, I do not live in MD., but I love your governor. I have carefully watched him and carefully listened to him, and he is together all the way. Very excited about O’Malley.HZ

and the establishment will lose. Didn’t they learn anything from 2008 and ‘Anybody But Romney 2011/2012?’ Elections are now grassroots, establishment can go suck it. People hate politicians. To mobilize a party, you need a frontman that people can love and follow, ride or die. People need to be inspired and they need to be able to trust you. I’m not interested in Cuomo. If he were the nominee, I’d hold my nose and vote for him, but he wouldn’t mean that much to me.

The establishment WILL lose!!! What these establishment people on both the left and right don’t realize is that ground has shifted under them!!! It is over and politics as usual is taking its final lap!!! President Obama has forever loosened that stranglehold the corrupt establishment has had on our politics and it is up to us to completely take back our democratic process!!!

Whoever is going to take up the mantle from President Obama should be put in place Jan 2013. This person needs to NOT LET OFA go into the darkness like they did in 2009. PBO and the Democrats need to encourage this group to keep active into the midterms and into 2016.

Whoever that is better speak up continuously and loudly by word and deed in support of President Obama!!!
no mealy-mouthed shit and no underhanded and two-faced backstabbing or they will be dead in the water!!!

OFA is President Obama’s legacy of hard-won community organizing at its very best and it will support only those deserving of its support and will not be “automatically” inherited by whiever thinks they should be the next Democratic president!!!

Andrew Cuomo will NEVER get my vote or support!!! He is an asshole of the first order and I will NEVER forget how disrespectful, demeaning and unsupportive he has been and to this day continues to be, towards President Obama!!!

Hey TOD!!!! Totally missed the speech :sad panda: :( Now I gotta wait on c-span, for some reason, the video is listed but it won’t play. Major :( . Anyway, I guess I’ll go catch up by reading the previous thread.

Got a glimpse of a post over there praising the recess appointment of Cordray. They ended the post by saying he could have done this for Warren.

Didn’t Warren SAY she didn’t want the job? Is she on an unemployment line somewhere or is she running for the MA Senate where she gets lots of exposure to the nation with the possibility of one day running for the WH?

I just had a feeling when President Obama was in Hawaii walking around in his flip flops and eating shaved ice with the girls, in the back of his mind he was saying to himself “wait until they get a load of me,” when I get back to Washington. Folks this s**t has gotten real, real quick, President Obama has come out swinging.

p.s. oh by the way, has anyone seen hide or hair of the Congressional Black Caucus?

I think it will be approved – but only after horsetrading it for something big the Administration wants. Making it seem like he really, really doesn’t want it makes the GOP House really, really want it.

I don’t understand the environmental case against it, outside the Nebraska aquifer in that the stuff will still be mined by Canada and still be processed somewhere. So the environmental impact it out of the US’s hands.

I think it might be approved also. There were some people in my twitter time line getting very excited and saying that the State Dept and WH promised to veto it and they did no such thing. So even if there is horsetrading get ready for cries of betrayal.

Personally I wouldn’t approve the pipeline until the American Jobs Act was passed. Republicans REALLY want that pipeline so tie to payroll tax cut and AJA.

Here’s some additional information about tar sand oils, and the XL Pipeline.~

There’s No Hiding From Tar Sands Oil: Keystone XL pipeline or no, America is awash with the dirty oil from Canada. Here’s our interactive map revealing the refineries near you.

—By Tim McDonnell| Thu Dec. 15, 2011 12:20 PM PST

But long before the Keystone XL became a cause célèbre, tar sands oil was already ubiquitous in America: It goes to fuel our cars and corporations’ trucking fleets, and it’s used in the production of products from aluminum cans to asphalt. Starting last year, San Francisco-based environmental advocacy group Forest Ethics launched a campaign to encourage American companies to boycott tar sands oil and, specifically, the refineries that process it.

Projections from Canada’s environmental ministry point to an estimated 740,000 acres of boreal forest being chopped down over the next decade to make way for tar sands development, and some estimates peg the carbon footprint of tar sands oil extraction at up to 70 percent higher than other crude oil sources.

A December 2010 Sierra Club report linked tar sands refineries emissions to prenatal brain damage, asthma, and emphysema, and it also suggested a disproportionate placement of tar sands refineries in low-income minority neighborhoods. “We do believe that tar sands refineries are dirtier and more dangerous” than other refineries, Sanger said.

PBO will NOt approve it. This is an escalating war between PBO and the Kochs who are behind the pipeline. They have already gotten states in the West and Midwest to derail PBO’s fuel/clean air initiatives in order to keep their dirty oil interests including the pipeline going. They bankrolled the congress to throw the Pipeline into the tax cut debate. PBO baited them when he said not to include it else he’ll veto it. Well they predictably fell into his trap. Now he’s going to kill it spectacularly. Read the Salon.com article detailing the backstory from two weeks ago.

What’s been left out of the ferocious debate over the pipeline, however, is the prospect that if president Obama allows a permit for the Keystone XL to be granted, he would be handing a big victory and great financial opportunity to Charles and David Koch, his bitterest political enemies and among the most powerful opponents of his clean economy agenda. The two brothers together own virtually all of Koch Industries Inc. — a giant oil conglomerate headquartered in Wichita, Kan., with annual revenues estimated to be $100 billion.

~snip~

The 1,959-mile pipeline would cut through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma to refineries in Texas, and crisscross the Ogallala Aquifer, which Americans living in the Midwest rely on for fresh drinking water as well as irrigation. Last July, the EPA rolled up its sleeves and called a time out. The agency deemed the State Department’s environmental review of the Keystone project as “inadequate,” the lowest possible ranking. EPA raised concerns over a potential oil spill over the Ogallala aquifer.

The agency also asked the State Department to consider the national security implications of expanding the nation’s commitment to a relatively high-carbon source of oil, which EPA says has a well-to-tank carbon footprint 82 percent greater than conventional oil.

Oooh, I would love to be in on that lesson. McCain:”Be sure you keep as stiff a posture as you can, Mitt, so you don’t touch anyone “offensive.” Mittens: “Okay, John, shoulders back, hands by my side. Got it.” McCain: ” Most important thing though, is to keep the barbecue’s going for the press. They love them some babyback ribs.” Mittens: “Babyback ribs, check.” McCain: “Oh, and you’ve got to memorize some zingers, Mitts. That one about the chrome tires was a thigh-slapper. Keep that up and people will be putty in your hands, just like they were for me. “

I saw that on an MSNBC scrawl. It’s bloody good news. I’ve been listening to a lot of economists who don’t have their heads stuck up GOP asses and they’ve all been predicting that the economy is going to continue growing in 2012. It would be nice if 8.6% went down to 8.2% or 8%. If I’m crossing my fingers, 7.9% would be econogasmic ;)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama’s campaign team is casting him as a man of his word, countering Republican efforts to portray his White House record as nothing but a series of failed promises. But the approach carries risks that Republicans hope to capitalize on.
A new mantra of “promises made, promises kept” is emerging from Obama’s team, presenting the president as a man of conviction while digging into charges that GOP front-runner Mitt Romney has vacillated on a broad number of issues as he seeks his party’s nomination.
Obama considers his record a selling point, telling donors last November that he would put his legislative record “up against any president in their first term.” In an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes” last month, he said he’d put his administration’s “legislative and foreign policy accomplishments in our first two years against any president — with the possible exceptions of Johnson, F.D.R. and Lincoln — just in terms of what we’ve gotten done in modern history.”

I can’t read the article because the excerpt above made my blood pressure rise. What “risks” are carried by the President selling his very impressive legislative record? What can the Republicans possibly “capitalize” on, when they’ve opposed almost everything that the President has tried to do legislatively, including voting against medical benefits funding for 9/11 First Responders (which was the lowest point of their obstruction, in my opinion). Has Romney not vacillated on a broad number of issues?

These kind of articles make my blood boil, because they assume that the President’s record is something to be ashamed of. And it’s going to be lovely to see people’s eyes open up as his real record becomes more widely known, and people realize what the GOP have been doing to keep the country down these past three years.

Theo- Or, it’s premised on the fact that truth has a risk factor that the opposition can pull apart. Truth is truth. What is..is! And why is it always about the anxiety of response from these deadbeats and duds in the GOP do nothing cabal?.

Because WE’re part of PBHO’s “boots on the ground (which includes our eyes and ears),” I reported this to attackwatch.com. (Attackwatch is on Twitter… @attackwatch #attackwatch. And, Attackwatch is on TOD’s sidebar—> ;) )

WE MUST make sure the TeaPUBLICANs/TeaGOP “stay in the wilderness” if not forever, for a pretty long time…Grrr! :mad:

yep…that’s what all the other journos said. After a Chinese lady pushed him on Reaganomics bankrupting her he told her “I hope I didn’t put any Asians down. I love people from other lands. I love legal immigration.” Barely 400 people there–not even near capacity. I dunno know. Between the certified ass whooping Newt says he is going to serve up at the debates, Mitt might not win NH, at least decisively.

I loved the line in that article, ‘filled well below capacity.” And could he be more awkward when talking about Asians. He didn’t even have the courtesy answer the woman’s question, just addressed her ethnicity. Geez,. what a dork.

Filmmaker Spike Lee, a passionate President Barack Obama supporter in 2008, is throwing a fundraising dinner for POTUS in Manhattan on Jan. 19, New York Post’s Page Six reports.
According to the paper, Lee and his wife “will host the commander-in-chief at their Upper East Side brownstone with an intimate 6 p.m. reception for 60 guests paying $38,500 per head or $71,600 per couple, and have stipulated the event will be ‘no more than six tables and 60 people.’

A court in Ecuador upheld a 2011 ruling requiring US oil giant Chevron to pay $9.5 billion for environmental damage in the Amazon rainforest. The landmark ruling for environment management costs was in the suit that dates back to 1993 against Texaco, a firm later acquired by Chevron. The Ecuadorans allege that Texaco dumped billions of gallons of toxic waste into the Amazon rainforest.

The top regional court in Sucumbios province, in northeastern Ecuador, fully upheld the February 14, 2011 ruling against Chevron of $8.6 billion with an additional 10 percent for environment management costs, a judicial source told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. The original ruling also ordered Chevron “to publicly apologize to the victims” or pay twice the stated amount. Chevron has not apologized.

I don’t care what anyone has to say but Newt Gingrich is old school, you don’t have three wives and become Speaker of the House and cry when you think it will help you just to be outsmarted by some plastic vulture capitalist. You haven’t heard the last of Newt, or as I like to call him, “The Turk.” You just know he’s going to make this a street fight. It’s time for Romney to go to the mattresses, preferably mattresses outfitted with the Charlotte Thomas “Bespoke” Bed Linen Collection.

Tonight, a packed cafeteria of fired-up Democratic caucus-goers at East High School in Des Moines got a pep talk from the chair of the Democratic Party, Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

The chair told the caucus, “We wouldn’t be here without you”—the folks who showed up on a chilly night in January 2008, the folks who cast their ballots to elect Barack Obama President of the United States, the folks who stood with the President to reform our health care system and end the war in Iraq.

And, as Rep. Wasserman Schultz told the room, this same group of people must continue to have the President’s back throughout the primaries, through the fall—and after we’ve re-elected Barack Obama.

Today, I was appointed by President Obama to serve as the first Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. I am honored by this opportunity to continue my work on behalf of consumers. And I am energized by the responsibilities and challenges facing the Bureau.

The importance of this day has less to do with me personally and much more to do with you – and the millions of individuals and families across the country who access consumer financial markets every day to participate in our economy and to pursue their dreams and aspirations. That’s because now, with a Director, the CFPB can exercise its full authorities – with respect to both banks and nonbanks – to help those markets operate fairly, transparently, and competitively.

Tea Party Nation’s Judson Phillips appeared on Monday’s Martin Bashir and boldly declared, “The Tea Party will never rally behind Mitt Romney.”

“Really?” host Martin Bashir exclaimed. “Never?!”

“Never!” Phillips reiterated. “I think I told you this before, we’ve done surveys on our site where it shows one third to one half of the Tea Party members will not vote for Mitt Romney if he is the nominee in the general election — which is probably going to encourage Team Obama to send out people to vote for Romney in the primaries. But Iowa is the first step in this whole process. A week from now we will be talking about New Hampshire, two weeks from now, we’ll be talking about South Carolina and three weeks from now we will talk about Florida.”

The first meeting between Israelis and Palestinians in almost a year-and-a-half concluded after three hours with a promise to meet again, next week. Same subject, same place. The news of the renewal of negotiations was received with impassive inattention in both Israel and Palestine, where top headlines of the day focused on a local scandal, touching Jews and Arabs alike, in which Saudi hackers stole the identities of more than 15,000 credit card users who have bought coupons from discount sites.

Other items capturing local attention was the cliffhanging result of the Iowa caucuses, which is widely understood in the region to carry significantly more weight than the talks when it comes to determining the future of the region, and two abandoned cars that were set on fire in Jerusalem last night, in an apparent act of Jewish nationalistic vandalism.

So then, this also applies to the gangster hold to ransom set in Boehner/Cantor’s pack with their obstruction stances,right?
Poor poor irrelevant Willard, always trying to be strategically offensive by using this type of language to shitstir. I think he has been this way for so long i.e lying, spinning, lying again, that it just rolls off his tongue. It comes naturally…definitely no teleprompter needed for his type of venom .

Cordray is a much better choice than Elizabeth Warren to head the CFPB given his resume. Warren is ideal for the Senate, and is more the ideas person, while Cordray has the experience as SG, AG, Treasurer, Congressman to be the necessary manager of the huge operation. Warren could have reasonably been block due to lack of management/executive experience – Cordray’s qualifications are impeccable.

I agree – I think Cordray is perfect, given that he’s been doing this work for some time, and this role needs an executor who can get it going in a quality way. I think Warren will do much better in the Senate, since communicating and persuading people is critical for an effective politician (important in getting public support to pressure Congress), and she might even persuade a few of her hundred colleagues to vote her way.

Watched McCain do his speech–the funny thing was seeing a girl on the right of the screen chatting away to a friend the entire time–the two were completely clueless about being on national television, talk about an example of how unimportant McCain actually is— there has to be something funny to do with that video. Anyone else see it?

I don’t think it will fly smoothscotch. He’s proved himself to be very patient and has earned the right to be done with these fools. Most people will think he’s rightly reached the point where enough is enough. How much sympathy can Congress expect when their approval rating is less than 10%? I’m delighted to see him kicking some GOP butt. My husband is shaking his head after witnessing me punching the air and doing my victory dance!! ;)

The recess appointment itself is meaningful because it is more proof that Obama is done playing games with this Congress. The president also managed to turn a recess appointment into an illustration of how the current dysfunctional Congress has failed America.

Without a bit of irony, Speaker of the House John Boehner reacted to the recess appointment with a statement accusing Obama of a power grab. Boehner said, “This is an extraordinary and entirely unprecedented power grab by President Obama that defies centuries of practice and the legal advice of his own Justice Department. The precedent that would be set by this cavalier action would have a devastating effect on the checks and balances that are enshrined in our Constitution.”

Boehner also admitted that the appointment was blocked because House Republicans don’t believe there should be an agency for consumer financial protection, “This position had not been filled for one reason: The agency it heads is bad for jobs and bad for the economy. It’s clear the president would rather trample our system of separation of powers than work with Republicans to move the country forward. This action goes beyond the president’s authority, and I expect the courts will find the appointment to be illegitimate.”

And just a little under 3 years, he was hailed as the second coming of GOP Saviour…the one who was supposed to render PBO a lame duck in his 2nd year of office! Who’s laughing now? PBO is. I am. We are.

New Hampshire GOP Bill Mandates That New Laws Find Their Origin In 1215 English Magna Carta

New Hampshire Republicans are taking textual originalism to a whole new level: three lawmakers have proposed a bill that requires that all legislation find its origin not in the U.S. constitution, but an English document crafted in 1215.

When the legislature reconvenes this month, Republicans want their colleagues to justify many new bills with a direct quote from the 800-year-old Magna Carta:

Please make sure you read the comments – they’re hilarious! My favorite quote from the article:

“New Hampshire Democratic Party spokesman Ray Buckley said he was “mostly speechless” when he heard about the bill. “I appreciate all the hard work the Republican legislators are putting into the effort to make them look like extremists,” he said. “Saves us the trouble.”

And my favorite comment:

“Michael F Bell · Galloway, New Jersey If they think I’m sending back the Welsh hostages, well they’ve got another thing coming.”
Hahahahaha!

My question for this soldier in an all-volunteer army is that if he didn’t want to keep the peace or follow his Commander-in-Chief, no matter who that is, then why did he enlist? Who goes into the army and then gives a speech against the job they volunteered they’d do? And would he be so eager to stand in awe of Ron Paul if he really understood what Ron Paul’s foreign policy means for the future of America, especially in its role as a world power or even a member of the UN and WTO?

I feel bad that he’s in trouble, since he’s a soldier. But, what a stupid move.

Yeah, that like the soldiers who would not report for duty because they thought PBO was not a citizen….people like that should not wear the uniform if they can’t support ANY commander-in-chief or wants to pick-and-choose what they want to do in the military.

Remember that police officer in FL who got into trouble for appearing in uniform at one of McCain’s events in 2008? It was against regulations for him to appear in uniform at a political event. Geesh. Republicans never seem to learn ANYTHING! Personally, I think they keep breaking rules and regulations because they sincerely think they don’t apply to them. The Paulbots on Twitter last night were vigorously defending this man even though yardarm and others knowledgeable about military regulations were telling them it was against military regulations for him to appear at political events in uniform. Lord, save me from these tools, please!!

No, they keep breaking rules because
a) they know it will get the attention of the extreme left and extreme right, that is, those without conscience, but love the argumentative and agressive affiliation on anything and nothing. and
b) they hope they will stir up the public to be drawn into the battle lines against the Prez!

Another thing that says Ron Paul really doesn’t give a shit about the people who support him. I mean, for all this military support he supposedly has, there was not ONE military person there who could have told anyone on the campaign that he shouldn’t speak in his fatigues? I hope that Mr. Thorsen is prepared for his punishment, because Ron Paul won’t help you out.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Army Reserve told TPM on Wednesday that Cpl. Jesse Thorsen may have violated military policy when he wore his fatigues on stage and praised the Texas congressman’s presidential bid.

Thorsen’s commander is now looking into the speech and will figure out what to do next, said the spokeswoman, Maj. Angel Wallace.

The Des Moines-based soldier served in Afghanistan but hasn’t been on active duty since October, Wallace said. However, he still serves a weekend a month and two weeks a year as a reservist and may be deployed to Afghanistan again in about a year.
.
.
.
“His beliefs and speech in no way reflect the views of the Army Reserve,” Wallace said. “This soldier stands alone.”

He still has his first 2 years of votes he can’t hide from – of that secret camera pleading to David Koch for money. Also with it a regular cycle election, teabaggers who worked for him to get the 60th vote from the Dems don’t care much about him anymore or have races they’re more interested in that the pretend liberal Republican in Massachusetts.

I don’t think the President took much time off during his vacation. He’s definitely hitting the ground running. Should be interesting – I’ll have to plan another “meeting” to hear his speech behind closed doors in my office… *cough*

Katrina can kiss my ass. She is the epitome of a privileged snarky bitch! She’s always whining about PBO and calling him the GOP’s best friend. She writes a book denigrating PBO’s mantra of Hope and Change. Then she flips on a dime and tweets so called “supportive” crap about PBO. Up hers.

I’m with ya ut. I can’t stand Katrina. She never really has anything positive to say about PBO. There’s always a but, but but why didn’t he, and he should have done this and he took too long, on and on ad nauseum. Her whining and hand wringing is insufferable. I could care less what she thinks about the Richard Cordray recess appointment.

You are so right Lib Lib, now she wants to act like she was with President Obama all along. She was Ed Schultz’s show one time complaining that President Obama did not know how to connect with the middle class. All of these phonies need to be called out.

PLEASE. Now Obama supports the 99% ? Donnez-moi a break. This is also the same woman that less than a month ago was raging about PBO’s politics trumping Plan B and women’s rights because he’s the father of two daughters. I cancelled my subscription to the Nation after that.

The media is so delusional if they think that President Obama is scared of Mitt Romney. Mitt does not and will not appeal to the majority of Americans in the general! POTUS is going to slaughter Mitt in the general.

And to his charge that MSNBC is “liberal” I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. You cannot say their daytime lineup is liberal. It’s corporate and includes Joe Scarborough who may as well be part of the programming on Fox. Mrs. Greenspan who commonly reports on so many issues where she has a conflict of interests it’s not even funny.

And as to their afternoon or evening lineup, Dylan Ratigan who is more of a Libertarian born again faux liberal, who decided Wall Street was bad after seeing the light after who knows how many years of carrying water for them, and whose show plays like a bad rerun day after day with the same guests and the same overly simplistic, over generalities and the same talking points with the “both sides” are equally bad meme when they are not, and guests like Tom Coburn brought on among others who don’t deserve the air time they’re given treated as some bastion of reasonableness. So spare me with anyone trying to label Dylan Ratigan as a liberal.

And then we’ve got Chris Matthews who can’t figure out whether he’s pro-choice or not depending on which way the wind is blowing that day and continually brings on the likes of Tom DeLay as his best buddy, or at least he did before he finally wound up being convicted and who fluctuates with his political leanings where at times it’s enough to make your head spin.

“President Obama’s Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is perhaps the most powerful and unaccountable bureaucracy in the history of our nation, headed by a powerful and unaccountable bureaucrat with unprecedented authority over the economy. Instead of working with Congress to fix the flaws in this new bureaucracy, the President is declaring that he ‘refuses to take no for an answer’ and circumventing Congress to appoint a new administrator. This action represents Chicago-style politics at its worst and is precisely what then-Senator Obama claimed would be ‘the wrong thing to do.’ Sadly, instead of focusing on economic growth, he is once again focusing on creating more regulation, more government, and more Washington gridlock. As President, I will focus on turning around our economy so that America can once again lead the world in job creation.”

Now, let us pause and ponder for a minute. What if PBO had done all this as the 112th Congress was seated? There’s no doubt that he knew he’d get nothing of importance through from the very beginning. He could have just said “screw it” and tried to get as much done as he could by circumventing Congress. It’s what the PL brayed for.

That would’ve been a mistake both tactically and strategically. There would’ve been several tactical mistakes: first, the PL does not represent even a major minority of the American electorate. Giving them ponies while seeming to be high-handed with the peoples’ elected representatives would have immediately cast him as the “angry black man” that the Right portrays him as. Secondly, the Congressional GOP could easily wage a brushfire war against him, even to the point of calling him a “dictator” for circumventing the normal legislative process. It would’ve been, quite frankly, a clusterfuck and a mistake of huge proportions.

But, even more importantly, it would’ve been a strategic mistake. I’ve been saying for a while that Obama has one major goal in mind: the evisceration of the Right for a generation, and its replacement by a Right that, while holding different beliefs from the Left, is not willing to bring the country down just for the sake of holding power. Obama is a well-traveled, cultured man. He sees how the Right operates in most Western democracies. The Right in France or Germany is nothing like the Right here. Here it is degenerating year by year into outright fascism. It is dangerous to the continuation of our democracy, because it doesn’t believe in democracy, or only believes in its form, not its essence, like the “democracy” of Russia. Our oligarchs look to Russia with envy: untrammeled power, free reign to make as much money no matter who gets trampled. This is what Obama is trying to forestall.

So, in politics as in writing, it’s always better, more effective to show, not tell. And PBO has been showing the country what the GOP has degenerated to for the entire past year. And it’s working. People are seeing it. Not everyone. Obama will probably not increase his margin of victory in the popular vote by much over 2008. But that’s fine. It’s a process. It’s a long game. And we wouldn’t be where we are today if he had torn off his shirt and done a Rambo in January 2011.

Katrina vandenHeuvel, Joan Walsh, Ed Shultz and almost all the emoprogs are back on the Obama bandwagon because the wheels are coming off the Paul bandwagon after last night. The emoprogs will kiss Obama’s ass, make as much money as they can off of his re election campaign, then go right back to complaining about him “caving” and “he’s STILL the Compromiser in Chief…” they might actually end up calling for his impeachment since he would be a two term incumbent. It’s like they truly believe the crap from the right wing about him being the Messiah.

Well well well. It is clear someone is feeling the heat in their pick-up truck and running as far away from his party as he can. Scott Brown put out a statement agreeing with Pres. Obama over the Cordray appointment.

“I support President Obama’s appointment today of Richard Cordray to head the CFPB. I believe he is the right person to lead the agency and help protect consumers from fraud and scams. While I would have strongly preferred that it go through the normal confirmation process, unfortunately the system is completely broken. If we’re going to make progress as a nation, both parties in Washington need to work together to end the procedural gridlock and hyper-partisanship”

Poor Jon Huntsman, he had his world, butt and balls. And now he’s leaving Iowa with about 1% of the caucus vote. That means if my name was on the ballot, Huntsman received around one thousand votes to my zero votes. How do you go from being an historical President’s ambassador to China to being a punch line to a bad joke. I remember the day President Obama announced Huntsman as his Ambassador to China, I remember the graciousness and praise President Obama showed towards Huntsman and his family. I remember President Obama joking with one of Huntsman’s daughters. Good riddance to this fool.

Yeah, I remember that day, too. I even thought highly of Huntsman for taking a job for the good of the country, even knowing that some of the move was probably to take him out of circulation for 2012 (I didn’t know about his squeaky endorsement of Palin, at the time). If Huntsman hadn’t listened to McCain, his ambassadorship would have shored him up to be a strong contender for the GOP for 2016, if he wanted it, since he’d have international experience with an emerging world power and working in a bipartisan manner with a popular President. He blew it.

The recess appointments President Obama announced Wednesday are “almost certain” to be challenged in court, according to a top official with the nation’s largest business lobby.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has not decided whether it will file a legal challenge to the appointments, according to David Hirschmann, who heads the Chamber’s Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness. But he said he’s confident that Obama’s precedent-shattering move will land the administration in court.

You see, it’s a trap for republicans or these awful businesses that are effected by this bureau.
This will get headlines, the President will be seen as a Champion of the consumer.
And, the Republicans have been getting some nice donations from these businesses, that all but stops, as the Republicans failed to block this appt!
This move, more than any other, was simply brilliant.

I seem to recall “confirmed by the senate” was put in especially at the behest of one of the GOP supporters of the bill. So I could see the issue being that he wasn’t confirmed by the senate as the language specifically states. However the fact that the GOP in the Senate wasn’t acting in good faith and admitted that Cordray was qualified but they wouldn’t confirm anybody unless the law was changed will probably lessens any argument they could make.

As long as no court blocks Cordray while all this court mess plays out I think we’re fine. Administration will have brilliant legal minds signing off on this and it would take years to get to Supreme Court, where the present court usually rules on expanding executive branch powers.

Of course this will be ugly for us under the next Republican President. But Bush recess appointed Bolten to the US and you really can’t get uglier or more offensive than that.

SR, Did you mean to say Bush appointed Bolten to the UN? By the way, given the numbers of Republican Presidents’ recess appointments, I doubt that the law suits have any legs to stand on. Unless, of course, the Supreme Court decides to hand down another “Bush v. Gore” political decision that cannot be used as precedent!

Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office — the same law enforcement agency accused of retaliating against political opponents — wants the names of “each and every” resident interviewed by Justice Department officials who accused the MCSO of racial discrimination and other civil rights violations.

But a Justice Department spokeswoman said Wednesday that they “look forward to sitting down soon with MCSO,” but “will not hesitate to take prompt legal action” if they find that MCSO “is again failing to act in good faith.”

I don’t like what Santorum has said about the poor neighborhood, having no role models and other things he said. What do he know about these neighborhoods? He has never visit any of those people in those neighborhoods.,

Oh, god yes, he’s vile, and a whackadoodle. But the more he and Paul and Mittens beat up on each other, the better. I want a completely disjointed, dispirited GOP going into Nov 2012. I want a civil war. I want the Right to wither on the vine until it can recompose itself into a constructive movement.

Very interesting read at Smartypants Blog about the Taliban. If the senate refuses to close Gitmo, President Obama will back peace talks between Afghanistan and the Taliban. A byproduct of those talks will be that the prisoners at Gitmo will be returned to their home countries. And with the closing of Gitmo, how would congress and the senate justify funding an empty prison?

No one ruling, in my opinion, has so undermined the voices of ordinary citizens to elect their representatives, than Citizens United. I hope this whole thing comes crashing down…which is a HUGE REASON we need to re elect this President!

Dear Peoples, I have a request of you. I ask that you keep your comments to something you would be willing for your dearest grandmother to hear . . . . or even something that you think Barack Obama would appreciate having on this site. Part of what I do is write about this blog to people who are not aware of what a useful forum it is for those of us who trust our President and who work in his behalf for the sake of all of us.
Tonight’s comments do no make me proud to call attention to The Obama Diary. Many of these comments do not serve us well, they do not reflect what we stand for here. I request that you be responsible for your speaking. Thank you for considering my request. I love you and get the commitment you are to Obama/Biden 2012. xoxoxo

but aren’t we all adults here? I hope TOD doesn’t become so pious that everything is censored.

That is one of the main reason that I visit this place. TOD is real and represents such a wonderful and diverse group of people who for all their differences, proudly supports this President, his family and the administration even if they disagree on some of the issues.

Hi nospin, I don’t know what comments Sara was objecting to, so I’ll have to wait to hear back from her.

I’m not in to rules at all, to be honest, the only ‘things’ I don’t want here are Firebaggers, Teabaggers, racism and homophobia.

I know there have been complaints before about the, well, ‘fruity’ language and our naughty mat stuff, but while I’m sorry that people are offended, I’m not ‘banning’ either. As you said, we’re adults, so we can call each other out if things get a little too ‘fruity. As for the naughty mat business, it’s just a bit of fun, there’s no harm in it at all – and we could all do with some light relief at times. Again, if it crosses the line, we call each other out.

The blog, of course, isn’t everyone’s cup of tea (!), but I kinda like it how it is.

I like how you ended that Chips “but I kinda like how it is.” With over 6 million hits I’d say a lot of people “like how it is!” ;)
Advice for Sara: if you do not feel comfortable sharing an Obama Diary post because of the back and forth in the comments section then share the info straight from the source such as where an article was originally posted, a c-span video, video or photos from whitehouse.gov and often times you can share videos directly from YouTube rather than from this site too. I often share info from this site in that way instead of directly from TOD and I have found it to be helpful.

I just hope Sara doesn’t want people who comment here to loose their sense of humor! If this is all about the “naughty mat stuff,” I know that if my mother (who passed away 15 years ago) were alive (she would have been 97 last september) would have laughed heartily about all the ladies (and some men too) with their harmless humorous fantasies. I can say the same thing about my maternal grandmother who passed away at the age 99. I have been told that my granny, who was a devout Christian, still had an eye for handsome men. Of course she tried to hook them up with her daughters, my aunts.

People who post here are very serious people who are extremely knowledgeable about a variety of issues. I don’t know about any one else, but I really come here to learn. I also know that many people on this site are very spiritual. Some are even more religious than I am, though I come from a very religious family. The humorous comments are simply the icing on the cake. With all the idiocy and insanity promoted by the teabag-Republicans, I find it refreshing to come to a blog where people have a lot of fun even as they are seriously focused on discussing important issues. I also admire the fearless commentators who are not at all bashful at hitting back hard at the teabag-Republicans.

Chipsticks, I hope that you keep this site as it is. You are doing a wonderful job! The brilliant people commenting on this site are indispensable! I hope that both POTUS and FLOTUS are open enough to be proud of this site. IMHO, humor is absolutely necessary if we have to maintain mental sanity. So, as we used to say in the 60’s, I hope you “keep on keeping on!”

Hiya nathkatun7, nothing will change AT ALL about the blog, as I said, the fun and, um, fruitiness will always, always be a part of what we’re about! It’s not everyone’s thing, but ‘light’ and ‘relief’ are my middle names!

In fairness to Sara, she didn’t mention our naughty mat business, it was just about a few comments earlier today re Halperin – which, to be honest, were a bit beyond naughty :oops: Sara is a complete dote, she emailed me about it and was lovely, I thank her for that.

Iowans Collected More Federal Benefits Than They Paid In Federal Taxes
By Pat Garofalo on Jan 3, 2012 at 5:45 pm

On average, every New Hampshire resident received $4,850 in direct assistance from federal programs in 2010 — that’s everything from the Medicare prescription drug benefit to Pell grants. According to a 2011 Census Bureau report, federal money also accounted for 30 cents of every dollar of New Hampshire state revenue in fiscal 2009, the most recent year for which comprehensive data are available. Federal money helps states pay for building roads and fixing bridges, among numerous other kinds of projects. […]

Iowa received more federal money than New Hampshire in 2009. Thirty-three percent ($5.4 billion) of state revenue came from federal sources in that year…In addition to the billions of federal dollars that helped finance the state’s government, Iowa residents received substantial direct federal assistance. On average in 2010, residents of the state each received $5,400 from all federal programs. Iowans paid on average $5,175 in federal taxes that year — that includes income taxes as well as excise and other kinds of taxes, but excludes corporate incomes taxes. On balance, that means Iowans collected more federal benefits than they paid in federal taxes.

Chris Matthews always profess to know what type of people live in every state. He love to say what the Obama campaign is thinking. He just said that the Obama campaign is scared to death that Mitt will win in New Hampshire. Mitt lives in New Hampshire.

He also said that the Obama Campaign must be unhappy that the “Not-Mitt” candidate is Santorum instead of Gingrich or Perry. Tweety is obviously distraught after last night’s Iowa caucus and is trying to make himself feel better by spinning whatever happened as “bad news for Obama.” After all isn’t that the Koch brothers’ instructions to MSNBC?

SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio — President Barack Obama uncorked the opening pitch of his election-year argument Wednesday by sidelining Congress and installing former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray as the nation’s top consumer-finance watchdog.

The Democrat announced the move at Shaker Heights High School, putting Cleveland and the Buckeye State front and center of what promises to be a high-stakes political fight.

“The financial firms have armies of lobbyists in Washington looking out for their interest,” Obama said. “You need somebody looking out for your interest, and that’s Richard Cordray.”

While the crowd of about 1,400 cheered Cordray’s recess appointment to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Republicans immediately panned the decision.